Improvement in harvesters



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. MADDOOK AND GEORGE F. SEISER, or PORTSMOUTH, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 146,465, dated January 13 January 19,1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM H. Mnnnoox and GEORGE F. SEIsER, both of Portsmouth, in the county of Scioto, State of Ohio, have invented certain Improvements in Harvesters, of which the following is a specification:

The frame of our machine consists of a cylindrical box suspended on the driving-axle, inclosing the said axle, and a wheel having a serpentine camgroove, which is keyed upon the latter, and affording points of attachment for the arm and brace of the finger-bar, and for the tongue. The said cylindrical frame also affords bearing for a double crank-shaft, which receives motion from the serpentine cam, and imparts motion to the pitman of the cutter-bar. The machine may be converted from a front to a rear cut, or vice versa, by disconnecting the brace, swinging around the cutter bar and arm, and reinstating the parts in position on the other side of the frame, the

tongue being also shifted over, so as to point in the opposite direction, and the parts are so arranged that a center draft is secured whichever side of the frame the tongue may be at tached to.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan, partly in section, Fig. 2 is a front elevation, partly in section. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line as x, Figs. 1 and 2.

A A are the driving-wheels of the machine, journaled loosely on the axle B. G G are clutches sliding on the axle B when moved by their levers D, and revolving with the axle by means of the feathers b b. The fork d of the lever D sits into the slot of the clutch. E E are two semi-cylinders, which format boxing for the gear -wheel F, which is keyed fast to the axle B. The cylindrical case E E is divided on a horizontal line, the respective portions being above and below the axle B, which is journaled in bearin gs recessed in the edges of the said semi-cylindrical portions. To the side of the lower portion E of the boxing is attached the tongue G by meansof lugs and bolts. Theboxing E E forms the frame of the machine, being suspended upon the axle, and it carries the arm H and brace I, by which the finger-bar K is supported and advanced. The frame also carries the crank-axle L,which is journaled in the boxing l, and has an upper 1874; application filed and lower crank -arm, M and N, respectively.

The crank M has a pin, 012 on which is a roller, m projecting into the serpentine slot c of the w eel As the wheel F rotates, the roller m dodges from side to side, giving a reciprocating rotary motion to the crank-arm-M, the axle the c an m d, nrhcatinalnneitudinal movement te th M tmag gl and'kififebar1 TBy'refeiieiicftb tlie elevation, Fig. 2, it will be seen thattlie axle L is situated below the level of the driving-axle B of the machine. pin m is horizontal, is placed on the level of the axle B, and is radial to the wheel. The

crank-axle L is journaled in a projection, g,

attached to or cast with the semi-cylindrical portion E of the boxing, and from the latter depends a post, 0, to which is attached a bent arm, a, to which the arm H of the finger-bar is connected by a joint, which allows the fingen bar to swing around to the rear, when theconnection of the brace I with the frame E, and

that of the pitman O with the crank N, is temporarily severed. When this is the case, the knife-bar is brought round in the are shown in dotted lines in the plan, Fig. 1, and in the direction of the arrow, so that it presen'tsthe points of its guard-fingersand the edge of the knife in a different direction. The tongue is then detached, and is fastened onflthe other side of the frame E, and points in the reverse direction, so as to agree with the new presentation of the teeth.

In the former position the cutter was a front-cut machine-that is, the cutter-bar was in advance of the wheels. In the changed position the machine is a rear-cut machine, the cutter being behind the wheels. In each case the tongue is attached to that'side of the box E toward the cutter-bar, and is practically a center-draft machine ineach case.

Each wheel is furnished with a clutch, and, in the usual run of a swath, both wheels act upon the axle B to rotate it and the impelling wheel F. In turning, however, it is advisable to throw out of gear the wheel on which the machine turns as on a pivot, or which may actually run backward, if the turn be very short. In this case, the driver pulls the lever-handle D on the side 011 which the machine is pivot ing, and temporarily withdraws the clutch from By this disposition of parts the crankthe pin on the hub'of the Wheel A. w The turn effected, hereleases. the lever D, and a spring again throws the clutch into connection with the wheel.

By a simple disconnection at two oints, a

Whirl of the finger-bar, and a reconnection,

the machine is turned from a front-cut to a rear-cut machine or vice Versa. This change is accompanied by a change in the position of the tongue, a center draft being preserved in either case. What we mean by center draft is not that the tongue is attached to the mid;

die of the frame, but that it is so connected to the machine as to meet the center of effort. The fin ger-bar projects to one side and so the center of effort is one side of the center of the frame.

WILLIAM H. MADDOOK. GEORGE 1?. SEISER.

' \Vitnesses:

w 7 FRANK B. REHOE,

WVELLINGTON KINNEY. 

